Degradation, persistence, mobility and bioavailability of veterinary pharmaceuticals in soil, water and sediment

Research

Veterinary pharmaceuticals have emerged in recent years as a contaminant of concern in the environment. While not applied to soil and water bodies directly, veterinary pharmaceuticals enter the ecosystem after being excreted by grazing livestock or by the spreading of manue on agricultural fields as fertilizer. As with other chemicals, veterinary pharmaceuticals may have detrimental effects on aquatic and terrestrial organisms, particularly on bacteria where they may contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance.

Research in the lab has primarily focused on three veterinary antibiotics: erythromycin, sulfamethazine, and tylosin. Understanding the degradation, persistence, mobility, and bioavailability of these veterinary antibiotics is important for determining any adverse effects they may have on the ecosystem. Other research in the lab has focused on improving the methods used to detect these veterinary antibiotics in environmental samples.